Souls Art Online
by Shadenight123
Summary: Welcome to Souls Art Online. Kirito is a team player and Kingseeker is ten times worse than Cardinal. Can the colorful members of the Warriors of Sunlight Guild survive and light the first flame, or will they fail, thus bringing forth the era of Darkness? For when the last flame falls...none shall leave the Game.
1. Prologue

**Chapter One**

The City of Anor Londo shone like a sparkling jewel when basked in the sun's rays, which warmed the skin of the living and delivered a light stifling heat to those who wore the heaviest of armors. The city was a rustling of activities, as the Beta Testers were no longer the sole inhabitants of the place, the many -international- players already signing in as the servers took the hit without a single spike of lag.

Kirito was honestly impressed -the level of complexity in the texture alone was nearly life-like, if not even more precise. The single cracks that shone across the pavement where water pooled from the nearby fountain would have taken a hit on the Frame Per Second of even the most top-tier of engines, and yet the servers of the Kayaba Corporation could render this for everyone else worldwide, provided a Nervegear was used.

The Kayaba Corporation had created the Nervegear technology for virtual reality, and had earned tremendous funding for its usage in the medical field as a mean to allow paralyzed victims to experience the joys of walking, breathing, or talking with their loved ones even when the only thing left was their brain activity. It was a startling discovery, a sparkling jewel and achievement that had soon earned the interests and the funds of worldwide companies.

With all the money earned, Kayaba could have retired a rich man, but instead he chose to create the first Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Game which held all data within its primary servers and merely streamed them back directly through the brain to the users, in such a way making only the Internet Connection a requirement to fully enjoy the beauty of the game known as 'Souls Art Online'.

Kirito had been among the lucky few to get a Beta-Tester invite, and he hadn't gone further than the first few areas.

When the game would begin anew, it was to be done in great style, with everything restarting from its very beginning -and a lot of new features implemented with a giant new patch.

The time of the large clock boomed upon the highest tower of Anor Londo as it ticked by, at its highest summit, with large scythe-like lances signaling the passage of time. At Midnight, the Servers would undergo a 'Reboot'. At Midnight, all would begin anew from the Asylum.

Only five minutes remained.

"Oh man, I'm so excited!" a newcomer's voice boomed right next to Kirito. "This is going to be great! Hey, is it true you don't get to stay here when the game starts?"

Kirito turned to look at the man equipped with the starting Knight package. His nickname 'Klein' hung over his head in big green letters. "Yes," Kirito said. "Players logging in for the game start are teleported to Anor Londo's Giant Plaza for the moment. You shouldn't head outside the boundaries of the Bonfire," he pointed at the large fire burning bright and hot, and then gestured to the thin grey air. "The ashes keep the Hollows and the beasts of the city away. Doesn't help against enemy players, but if you die you just respawn from the Bonfire, so death's temporary...but you lose the souls you acquired until then."

"I did read the player's manual before logging in," Klein replied with a grin. "I'm Klein by the way!" he extended a hand in a friendly handshake, and Kirito extended his.

"I'm Kirito," he replied. "And-"

A loud bell rang for death.

Another bell soon joined the first in its deathly, hallowed toll.

A chorus sang as the large bonfire crackled, growing limbs as it spun across the air, engulfing the skies with its hot, burning flames. The fires began to strike out upwards still, and soon, like a tongue of flame, began to spin around the large clock tower

 _In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog._

 _A land of grey crags, arch-trees and everlasting dragons._

 _Then there was Fire, and with Fire came Disparity._

 _Heat and cold, life and death, and of course..._

 _Light and Dark._

The fire burned. It burned, and as it burned the ashes began to grow thick. Dark shadows loomed in the fires now, revealing the meager story that set the tale in front of them. Figures both large and terrifying arose, and battled, and great dragons screamed as they fell.

 _From the Dark they came and found the Souls of Lords within the flame._

 _Nito, the First of the Dead._

 _The Witch of Izalith and her daughters of Chaos._

 _Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, with his faithful knights._

 _And the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten._

 _With the Strength of Lords, they challenged the dragons._

 _Gwyn's mighty bolts peeled apart their stone scales._

 _The witches weaved great firestorms._

 _Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease._

 _Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own and the dragons were no more._

 _Thus began the Age of Fire..._

Klein whistled from Kirito's side as the Bonfire stopped burning the sky, revealing the splendor of Anor Londo set ablaze by fires all across its surface, the cheerful choirs and sings of the other players from across the various 'safe' plazas heard throughout the city. And then, as if a large hand of cold had suddenly appeared to grasp at their souls, the Bonfire all gave away one after the other throughout the city, as screams began to soon rise.

"Hey," Klen said, "Why are the fires turning off?"

Kirito looked around, and then came to a quick decision. "It must be part of the event. Klein? Accept my party invitation." Swiftly, Kirito strolled through the menu with his fingers, and as a satisfying chime alerted him that Klein had accepted his invitation, he nodded and added, "Upper left corner, my nickname should be visible and my general location. Follow me."

Kirito began to head through the crowd who was growing increasingly aware of how things were changing.

"Kirito!" Diavel called to him through the private chat, and Kirito inserted him into his party without a second thought. "Well, I'd be-Already teaming up?"

"Find me a Pyromancer!" Kirito shot back as Diavel arrived in a hurry, his shield and sword equipped and itching for a fight.

"Right-o," Diavel rolled his eyes. "Like they just pop out from-oh wait, I know someone, invite Agil-"

A hooded figure soon joined the party, his nickname 'Agil' soon popped up somewhere in the crowd, and as the man quickly reached for them, Kirito found himself staring upwards at a bulking man of African heritage, with a...bald head, which the hood covered -but which the face shown next to the nickname in the Party-Status didn't hide.

"Shouldn't we need a healer?" Klein asked as they ended up moving away from the Bonfire, "And move near to the Bonfire?!"

"This isn't World of Warcraft," Diavel said. "You can only heal yourself. Equip your Estus flasks in your object inventory-"

"Estus what?" Klein asked.

"He's not a Beta Tester?" Diavel asked, looking at Kirito who shrugged noncommittally.

"I'm not one either," Agil pointed out dryly, his body moving to follow them and being apparently very careful not to 'step over' any 'smaller' players.

"He's a Knight, he kind of needs the added durability," Diavel said. "Shields don't fully block all damage done by attacks, Klein. That's why you are going to lose Hit Points when blocking."

"Unless you dodge," Kirito said.

"But if you dodge, you can't protect those behind you, and if you're flanked or overrun, then it's hell," Diavel snapped back.

Kirito rolled his eyes and gestured to an open archway that gave into a wide hall. "Get in before the Bonfire goes out. Whatever event's up, it's going to be starting pretty soon. Let's head for the higher ground and watch from there-"

 _But soon, the flames will fade and only Dark will remain._

 _Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights._

 _Amongst the living are seen carriers of the accursed Darksign._

 _ **Like a moth drawn to a flame, your wings will burn in anguish. Time, after time.**_

 _ **For that is your fate. The fate of the cursed.**_

"Wait, what was that?!" Kirito exclaimed as he heard the last two lines pronounced through the very air, as the Bonfire in the central plaza gave out, an anguishing cry of pain rising from the rocks as they burst apart crawling dark tendrils of miasma upwards into the air.

"You've got room for one more in your party?" a sly voice asked, nearly making Kirito jump off the balcony they had nestled in, all four of them kneeling behind the walls to gaze at the dark plaza below them.

"Argo," Kirito said as the invite was sent, and the young rogue received it. "I knew you'd come by."

"So sweet of you, Kii-Bou," Argo said. "Hi there, I'm Argo. Information broker. Add me to your friends and whisper me information, I pay in souls."

From the large, decrepit hall they stood in Kirito could see the fires start again. Torches were lit by the players, as the Sun had disappeared to make way for the darkness. The first screams began to erupt in the night as the Hollows took their cue to begin their attacks on the players.

Those who died disappeared into matted pools of blood, leaving behind shining lights of pale white and sparkling red. "When you die, you leave your souls behind," Diavel said, taking on the role of mentor for Klein and Agil, who both keenly listened on. "The loose soul you get by hunting monsters, not the [Soul Object], so if you happen on a Soul Object, keep it close and use it only when you're sure you're going to spend the souls within. Now, the enemies of Dark Souls can be divided into three large groups."

"That's really oversimplifying things, Dii-chan," Argo said with an amused tone, much to Diavel's annoyance.

"Things you can block, dodge and run away from. Things you can dodge and run away from. Things you can run away from unless you're lucky and can fight them."

"Mook, Elite Mook, Bosses," Kirito pointed out, earning a nod of understanding from Klein. "And that's not counting the special enemies, like the Red Phantoms, or the Player Killers-"

"Those aren't important right now," Diavel said. "This is an event. If you read the manual, you know that the only safe place from attacks is near a Bonfire. Only, Bonfires require Humanity to burn. Humanity is earned from some enemies or by defeating a lot of foes -it's a very, very rare drop. Good thing is, if you die you don't stay dead. You become a Hollow, only, not a mob. You become a Hollow Character. Most things stay the same, but some do change and they're more advanced mechanics...anyway, if you have Humanity, keep it for yourself unless the Bonfire you're resting at is going off. Then use one. If you don't-"

"If you don't, bad things happen," Argo said, butting in again as she made a soft 'hush' sound, to which everyone fell silent.

The sound of screams grew nearer. The flapping of wings rose in the air, soon met with the guttural snarling of unholy creatures. Kirito tensed, and stopped breathing as a large, stone-like creature similar to a winged, humanoid bull with an ax-like tail of rock and a larger yet spear dropped on the balcony in front of their group, gazing at the plaza below where the hordes of Hollows had already taken more than their fair share of victims.

Gnarling and growling, the beast lunged with its powerful limbs down with a ferocious roar that made Klein balk. The thing was easily twice his size.

"Didn't feel like a boss," Argo whispered.

"T-That wasn't a B-Boss?" Klein said. "W-What was-"

"Man," Agil said. "This is cool and all, but I came here to play and burn things, not hide in the dark." He began to stand up, only for Kirito to grab his wrist and pull him back down.

"Wait," Kirito said, "If you want to burn things, how about you wait? The biggest one is yet to come. The Boss. We're waiting for him."

"I dunno, man," Agil said as he easily broke free of Kirito's grip. "That's not cool at all, leaving them all to die like that."

"Death's just temporary. They've probably been teleported to the Asylum already, and are on their way back," Diavel said.

A sudden ticking sound soon caught them all, as the bells began to ring.

Twelve bells began to ring.

Twelve bells began to ring the sound of midnight.

Twelve bells sang their final countdown.

"Wasn't midnight already gone-" Klein said, and then stopped talking as a furious pounding reached their ears.

Large, titanic, beyond size comparison slabs of stone slammed down in the central plaza of Anor Londo, where once a shining fountain filled with water had been, and now only a column of black marble remained. No, it wasn't a column of black marble, but a club.

It was a club wielded by a large, overwhelming giant that slammed down on the few remaining survivors, moving his large club around and-

"Get down!" Kirito barked and threw himself on the floor, the dodge motion kicking in as the slab of rock passed over him by a hair's breath. He looked around and gasped. Diavel and Argo were still there. Klein had been hit and turned into a puddle of blood, and Agil was down on the floor, hands covering his head.

"Didn't you want to set him on fire?!" Kirito asked.

"I think I want to start with the smaller ones first!" Agil yelled back as the screeching sound of the flying monstrosity hung in the black skies above them, before they began to drop down one after the other, coming to a crash right in front of them -a trio of them.

"Scan!" Argo barked, and swallowed thickly. "Enemy Type: Gargoyle! Level, Weakness, everything else is empty! They're too strong to scan!"

Kirito gripped both of his swords and looked at Diavel, who raised his shield and nodded back to him.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Diavel yelled. "We're going to win this game, aren't we?!"

"Yes!" Kirito yelled back. "Yes. We. Are!"

Argo prepped an arrow, and Agil swallowed his fear and stood up, hands now alight with fire.

And as the bell once more rang for the Midnight, the Game known as Souls Art Online truly began.

 _Seek the Lordvessel, oh cursed being._

 _Fill the vessel with powerful souls,_

 _commensurate to the great soul of Gwyn._

 _Scarce few possess such brilliant souls._

 _Only then, shall thy curse be broken._

 _Only then, shall the Age of Fire begin anew._


	2. The Asylum

**Chapter Two**

Kirito opened his eyes to the crunchy, mossy stones of the Asylum. The Asylum, also known as the Tutorial area, was an instance-d area where you, as the player, were alone for most of it. The purpose of the Asylum was to teach the newcomers about the various types of enemies, and give a good nice start to what would become the later theme of the entire Multiplayer Online Game.

You could defeat a thousand small fries and you could take down a hundred smarter small fries, but you would need to sweat to beat the boss down. As Kirito stood up from his sitting position, he turned to grab a rotten, half-moss filled doll from a corner of his cell. It was a special item that no one had yet discovered its use, but since it was obtainable, then it meant it was either a crafting reagent or a requirement to unlock a quest.

It was also better to get it at the start, because if one didn't, then upon their return to the Tutorial area -no longer an instance after the first time through- they'd have to battle through a Black Knight to acquire it.

"Hey you, down there!" a friendly voice called from the roof's hole, and Kirito's gaze moved upwards, where Oscar the Knight looked down at him with a friendly wave. "Wait a moment; this should free you right up."

The corpse of a Hollow fell in the cell, and Kirito knelt to grab the Cell's key from its body.

"A thank you wouldn't hurt," Oscar said, much to Kirito's surprise.

"Thanks," Kirito said. "Careful up there!" he added as an afterthought, knowing fully well that the destiny of that Non-Player-Character was scripted anyway. The Knight nodded, the helmet clanking against his armor at the warning, and the next he rolled inside as a large roar echoed right above his head. The roof trembled as dust fell in, while the Non Player Character calmly wobbled back on his feet, dusting his shoulder pads off.

"Thanks for the warning," the Knight said, much to Kirito's surprise. This had to be one of many an addition to the quest line -maybe to further help new players battle the demons? Like, a 'Helpful' Aide that would disappear once the tutorial was over with.

Kirito turned to the door with barely a thought, turning the key inside and opening it. It was as his leather gloved hand touched the handle of the iron, rusty door that he realized he wasn't wearing the starting gear, but his gear. His beta-tester gear, which he had earned and battled through, was with him. Well, that was a pleasant surprise. Maybe it was due to the Game-Start event? By surviving until the Boss Fight, they had earned-

Kirito winced as a sudden spike of pain jolted him off his thoughts. His brain hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as it burned, as if some tiny part of it was on fire.

He couldn't remember what had happened properly. He did remember the Gargoyles, and he did remember facing them off. Had the giant swooped down for another attack? If that was the case, then he wouldn't be human still, and he clearly would be lacking souls.

Well, he did lack souls, since his inventory was pretty much empty of everything but his Beta-Tester Equipment -except for the Estus Flask, those he did have.

"We should hurry," Oscar said as above their heads, the loud roaring of the Asylum Demon made the ceiling tremble. Dust began to fall through, dust and loose rocks. "He'll topple the ceiling on us if we dally."

Kirito nodded, and rushed along the familiar corridor outside, not bothering to check on the Hollows that weren't a threat yet. In fact, they didn't bother attacking him, or Oscar, but simply watched them with their empty, humanity-deprived gazes. It had been creepy at first, what with the virtual reality and the high definition of the burnt undead skin, but he had grown used to it with time. It helped that once you had a proper armor and proper weapons, it became surprisingly easy to deal with the lonely Hollow.

Trouble brewed when there was more than one of them, and that was why being flanked was horrible in the game. The trick to it was to be quick on your feet, dodge out of the way, and take the enemies out one at the time.

The first change that Kirito happened upon was immediately at the end of the corridor, once up the stairs that should have led him to a large square. There wasn't a large square, but a massive corridor which spanned many open doors and that seemed to hold a few Hollows looking around as if lost. A Hollow turned to look at him, and pointed a finger at his presence.

The other Hollows soon turned too, and as one they began to near.

Kirito hefted his sword, as the knight brought up his shield. "Are you mad or sane, Hollow-men?!" Oscar asked, "For if you are among the sane then cease your advance and let us talk!"

The Hollow halted, and a few began to make some hand-gestures, as if trying to get a message across only to fail. Kirito began to feel nervous. He was still human, and Oscar was a Non-Player-Character. During the Beta, Hollow-Characters could still communicate with one another, and didn't need to rely merely on gestures to get the point across. Had this been changed as a shift from the Beta to the Official Release?

"I am Oscar, Knight of Astora. Have no fear. Although a strong demon bars our path off this island, if we work together as a whole we shall be able to put him down. Now, have you already headed past the hallway? Does anyone know what lies ahead? I do not remember such a hallway the last time I trudged upon these cursed halls."

Many shook their head, while one raised a hand and was quickly ushered forward by the crowd.

The Hollow tried to speak, but only garbled and guttural sounds came out, at least until Oscar nodded and Kirito understood that it wasn't that the Hollow couldn't speak -it simply was that the Human Players and the Hollow Players couldn't understand each other.

"Very well," Oscar said. "The beast that waits ahead is dangerous, but not impossible to beat. And you are armed, are you not?"

More than a few lifted their rusty, broken swords and wooden shields. Kirito winced at the sight. That was the stuff easily found in the tutorial section, and by comparison, he was clearly the best equipped.

He'd have expected more Beta-Testers, but it seemed as if he was a special case -maybe because he had survived a long time during the event, or maybe because he was the only Beta-Tester in the group.

The new players were content in believing him an NPC too however, and as long as he kept his wits about it, they'd probably be none the wiser of his real identity. You could make groups with NPCs after all, and they had names and stats just like players. The only difference was in the speech patterns -depending on some questions, they'd answer with a 'No Data Found'.

The System known as 'Kingseeker' -the Artificial Intelligence of the Game- was capable of trawling the web and seeking answers online to the most different of questions and opinions, and most of the time the characters could go on hours talking with the NPCs without realizing who they were. Of course, an easy way to see through it was to ask them for a trade option. Unless they were merchants, NPCs didn't trade.

Kirito's eyes were alerted to the sound of a chime, which warned him that Oscar had invited him to a group. He accepted the invitation, and as he did he realized a Raid-Group had just been formed under the command of Oscar. Ah, so this was a Tutorial section, expanded to include Raiding. In Dark Souls, it was important to form groups to face off against Hollows, but groups could only be of five people at most. Past the five people mark, it was called 'Raid' and it involved up to eighty people at a time. More often than not, eighty wasn't enough.

"Follow me, brave knights, men and women, follow me!" Oscar said with his sword held up high. Kirito followed the NPC closely, to keep up with appearances and to avoid unnecessary questions. The gathered Hollow players made them pass, and soon they were out of the hallway filled with doors and into a large circular area where a large bonfire rested, albeit lacking in light. Past it, large wooden doors were ajar to show the immense square which the Asylum Demon patrolled.

"Touch the Bonfire, and let its flame caress your soul and soothe your weariness," Oscar said, gesturing at the flame that he lit up with a simple hand gesture. "Should you fall, you will reappear among its flames. Be quick to leave it though, for you might not be the only one coming along."

The Bonfire wasn't one of the small ones, found scattered throughout the wilderness or the various game areas. It was one of those big ones, which denoted the creation of a safe area of considerable width. The ashes that filled the air soon settled around the borders of the door, and the Asylum Demon finally realized new challengers were approaching.

Kirito looked at the demon, and past it. If the layout of the battle remained the same, then behind the demon a balcony stood as the prime spot for sniping at the beast or striking at it from above. The only problem was that in order to reach it, one had to run to a door that would start to close the moment the combat began -so there was a very short window of opportunity for a few people, barely a group, to get through, and even if a group did manage the feat, they'd still need to quickly traverse a chunk of map to reach the balcony in question.

An experienced player could guide the group with ease, but-

"You follow me once the battle starts," Kirito said, his eyes on his group. Their names were slightly obscured, making it difficult to read them -one couldn't even know the names of the other players if they weren't of the same 'type'?! This...this was clearly strange. "There is a way to make this battle easier, but you will have to be quick and follow me. Do you understand?"

The four nodded, and Kirito took a quick breath as he waved at Oscar, who had meanwhile been talking to the others and divided them in groups based on their abilities.

Pyromancers started with their Flames already equipped, and while the attack was weak, it was still a good way to take chunks of life away from the enemy without risking a close encounter. The unlucky ones were the Knights who, while being heavily equip-dependent, also had to suffer the tutorial wearing mismatched light armor that basically amounted to rags and rusty broken swords with wooden shields. They'd get better equipment once they scaled up their attributes, but as things were, the start area was the pride and joy of Pyromancers and Clerics.

That was, of course, if things were the same as the Beta. As Kirito spoke to Oscar about the plan, the NPC nodded resolutely, giving him a thumb-up of approval. "Of course, we shall hold the beast off! Are you ready, brave men and women?" Oscar turned to rally the raid members, who all nodded and lifted their weapons of choice in the air.

The moment of truth soon arrived.

As a single, frothing horde of undead corpses and rusty swords the Hollow players charged forward while at the same time Kirito and his group detached from them, passing behind the columns as they headed to the slightly hidden door, which rested behind a few vases that had to be smashed in order to pass through.

The Asylum Demon roared from behind them as the doors clicked to a shut, while the first players already became casualties of the Demon Boss, their life disappearing in a blink after the first retaliatory attack.

Alone in the dark, stinky sewer-like room that would lead them up towards the ramparts of the Asylum and from there to the strategic attack point, Kirito looked at his group.

"We have to hurry," he said. "Follow me."

He did wonder what the Hollow Players were telling each other, but unless he became a Hollow himself -and he had no intention of wasting the Humanity he currently had- then he wouldn't know. Hopefully, they'd be able to take orders.

If only it was possible to play the game as a Solo player, he'd have done it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, except for a few lonely Hollow it was impractical to be in anything less than a group due to the way Hit Points would descend quickly from even the simplest of attacks.

Case in point, when they reached the large, circular sewer-like room, a horde of four Hollow met them -and 'four' Hollow was an easy Horde, because they had one member more. Usually, a 'horde' of Hollow had anything ranging from six to ten units.

And differently from those action movies, the enemies...

 _They all attacked at the same time._


	3. Thus, It Begins

**Chapter Three**

"All enemy units follow a rhythm to their attacks!" Kirito exclaimed, executing the Parry move to open the defense of the Hollow charging him, before quickly countering with his second sword and earning him the multiplier for a successful counter. "Parry, Counter and you inflict more damage. Roll out of the way or jump back! Their reach is short, but so is yours!"

He hoped they were capable of hearing him. He really hoped he wasn't talking to the empty air. "Let the System guide you and don't be afraid! The Stamina system is there to make you do motions you wouldn't normally be able to do. Remember, in SAO, the only limit to your physical body is your stamina level."

A Hollow managed to use his wooden shield to bat away the advancing enemy Hollow, and then strike him down with a hit to the head. Kirito moved behind another enemy and hit him with a Backstab move, which turned the Hollow into a gory chunk of blood. "Enemies hit from behind suffer a critical damage! Be careful, because the same is true for you! That is why Flanking is an advantageous and dangerous thing! Keep that in mind and never let the opponents overwhelm you!"

With a nod to another of his Hollow party-members, who had learned the lesson immediately and had clubbed to death a Hollow on the side, Kirito looked at the Raid window. He winced at the sight of many Raid-Members dead, and at a number over their health bar. Of course, due to the high risk of death in one hit by the Bosses, and the fact everyone returned to life at the nearest bonfire, it could happen for some Raid Members to simply die and then trek their way back to the boss while the rest still held on. In that case, in order to give prizes to the best players, those who died less earned more from the Boss' loot.

The loot itself was randomly generated and per person, and a cut of the Boss' souls was handed over to each and every one of the Raid Members. The only important thing, the Boss Soul, was a special item that could only be obtained by the one who had died the less and done the most damage to the monster.

The Boss Soul could be exchanged for a powerful item, or consumed for a hefty dose of souls. It was also whispered that some bosses, if killed solo, dropped very special and unique items. Although that was probably just a legend because even Kirito, going at it alone again and again, had never managed to as much as defeat the Asylum Demon. The problem wasn't just that the Asylum Demon followed a variegated set of movement patterns that he alternated at will, but it was also because the Monster had a lot of Hit Points, and eventually, even a very good player would end up slipping after half an hour of fighting it. In a game where a single mistake could mean game-over, and being forced to start again with the monster at full health, it was clearly something extremely difficult. None of the Beta-Testers had managed it.

As the last of the Hollow fell, tiny sparkles of white light suffused the frames of everyone, and Kirito watched as fifty meager souls joined his empty reservoir.

"You just earned souls," Kirito said. "They're important, but I'll explain on the way." He began to rush up the stairs past the sewer, climbing the iron ladder as quickly as possible. "Souls are used to improve your attributes and as a currency unit. They're collected from enemy Hollows, but also sometimes found in objects or chests. Be careful, because there are two types of Souls. The 'Object Type' which is in your inventory, and the 'Loose Type' which appears in the lower right corner of your screen. If you die, you lose all of your loose type souls, but not your Object Type. However, Object Type souls are rare. Be careful, because once you die, you leave behind a puddle of blood which, if you touch it, shall restore you the lost souls...provided you did not die recovering it. Or another player can touch it, and steal your souls."

The Hollowed Players looked at one another in surprise. They hadn't known about that? Uh, well. Kirito reached the top of the ladder and looked at the horde of Hollow waiting on the ramparts, and gestured for the rest of the Hollow to move. "Enemies have a certain range of vision. They won't see you if you walk silently behind them, although the more armor you wear the louder you'll be. That's the Sneak skill. If you strike at them while in Stealth, you will do more damage. Strike them from the back while in stealth, and unless they are a heavily armored type they'll die in one hit." To demonstrate the point, Kirito crouched and slowly began to move forward, sword in his right hand. When he drew near to an unsuspecting Hollow, he struck him down from behind and grinned as it turned into a shower of pixels.

The rest of the Hollow Players rushed forth, eager to try. The moment the ramparts were clear, it was time for the Door.

"The Fog Door is a type of loading screen," Kirito said. "It helps separate areas for players. Now, if you go through this Fog Door, you'll end up above the enemy Boss, and you can take shots at him. Normally, Fog Doors can be passed through by all players at any time, but they are only one-directional. Once the Boss is defeated, the Door disappears. So...if you pass through this door, you won't be able to get back in the Ramparts until the Asylum Demon is defeated, or unless you re-do the entire piece of dungeon."

The group of Hollow Players nodded, and one even made a 'Thumb-Up' gesture.

"Now," Kirito said. "Let's go kill ourselves a demon!"

With cheers -well, more like the 'Cheer' gesture- the group of Hollowed Players and Kirito passed through the Fog Door, emerging on the other side to the balcony that oversaw the fighting pit.

The Demon's life had been taken down to half, and as the Hollowed Players looked at the beast, they hesitated.

"Run, jump and do a downward slash," Kirito said. "You will execute a downward attack which will prevent fall damage if it connects and will inflict even more damage if you do it while undetected and hitting his back. Let's go quickly," he said. "One after the other now, and hold your weapon two handed for extra damage!"

A Hollowed player militarily saluted him, before jumping off the ledge with his sword held high. Bolstered by one of their party members' courage, the rest of the Hollow Players did the same in turn, and Kirito, both swords raised, jumped last.

The Asylum Demon's back burst in blood and gore as six long slashes struck him and connected with his rotten flesh, his Hit Points drastically lowering away to near zero. With his attack, Kirito's blades sliced off a wing of the creature, which disappeared into pixels and dropped into his inventory an 'Asylum Demon Wing' available for crafting -what, precisely, he wouldn't know until he got his hands on a Crafting Station.

The blood that sprayed from the Demon's back was enough to shower the ground and the walls, even as the beast turned to attack its attackers.

Kirito rolled away from the large club-like attack, which in turn struck the rest of his party and sent them back to the Bonfire.

As the second wave of the raid players charged at the furious, frothing beast, they hit with nothing less than pure fury and mindless abandonment. Flames from the Pyromancers burnt at the sizzling flesh, and in so doing struck it down in the end.

Kirito gasped as he looked around for Oscar, who stood covered in grime and blood with his shield raised up high in front of a group of archers.

"Fire, men! Fire!" he bellowed, sword raised.

The archers answered his call by loosening their arrows, which struck the wobbling fat chest of the Asylum Demon.

Kirito charged in too, howling as he jumped at just the right moment to strike the buttocks -disgusting, really, utterly disgusting- of the demon itself. The monster emitted a loud gurgling noise, as if shocked someone would plant two swords up his ass and then screamed shrilly as the last of his life depleted to nothing.

With a burst and a shower of pixels, as well as shining multicolored light, the Boss monster was quickly destroyed. Once it was done, and as everyone received their own souls, something else happened.

Each Hollowed Player returned human.

"Oh hell," one of Kirito's group members said, now his nickname clearly visible as **Dragonskyt**. "Thank god. It sucked to be Hollow."

"Woah," more than a few players said as they gazed at the massive doors that the Asylum Demon was protecting, which began to grind open to reveal the outside light. Well, not really. Instead of the outside light, they revealed a large Fog Door. That...that hadn't been there in the Beta Version.

Then again, the Beta Version had been with the Asylum played as a Tutorial in Solo, and the Asylum Demon been a boss a Raid had to fight optionally.

This...this was kind of different.

"Forward, brave men and women!" Oscar exclaimed. "Let us leave this filthy place behind!"

"Damn if that NPC's lines aren't cheesy as hell," a player said, just one of the many comments from the players that were now available to Kirito's ears.

"Hey man, thanks by the way," another player of his group said to Kirito, giving him the thumb-up. "I can't wait to see the Hub City."

Kirito shared his thought, and briskly walked next to Oscar who was at the lead of the main 'Raid' group.

"Ah, my brave friend! Your glorious strike truly served us well!" Oscar said, and extended a hand in thanks. Kirito returned the shake, and as he did, an offer popped up.

That...that kind of surprised him.

He didn't know you could befriend NPCs, but that was apparently now the case.

He accepted the friendship. "Woah, you can befriend non player characters now?!" another player said in the crowd -probably, everyone had received a friendship request from Oscar. Or maybe this was still part of the Tutorial Mission and explained the 'Social' side of the game.

Oscar stepped past the large Fog Door, and as he did, and Kirito followed soon behind him, the cold sensation of the fog stuck to his skin. His inventory beeped to alert him that he had acquired one piece of humanity and the Boss' Secret Item.

The Demon's Great Hammer was a heavy hammer, and didn't suit Kirito's style at all. He'd probably trade it away for something else, or sell it for souls at the starting city, but as it was-

The fog dispersed.

Kirito found himself stepping into a large, ever-growing crowd of people that seemed to be collected inside the ruinous remains of a wide church with an open roof. Perched atop the church, a large crow stood cawing madly, flapping its pitch-black wings.

A floating figure -a Gamemaster- opened his arms as the last members of the Asylum's group passed through. Oscar of Astoria was nowhere to be found -then again, the NPC had probably de-spawned by then.

"Welcome all!" the Game Master boldly proclaimed. "As I said before, exiting the game has been temporarily suspended to avoid trouble during the Tutorial section! You have nothing to fear, for once the Tutorial is done, you will all be allowed to disconnect!"

Kirito took that as a cue to check his Menu screen and indeed, it appeared the Log-Out option had been removed. Well, on one side it was a risky move, on the other...it didn't really matter since at worst a family member could pop out and remove the helmet -and there was always the Forced Reboot of the helmet. And people had probably taken a day off work to play this.

As soon as Kirito had done thinking it, more people came in. The Church's wall expanded further, probably to fit in with ease all the players that had completed their tutorials.

There were thousands of players inside the church, but they weren't lacking in breathing space.

Since he was no longer in the raid group, Kirito moved to seek out Argo, while at the same time sending out friend requests to his normal group of Beta-Testers players.

Diavel and Argo accepted immediately, while Crysheight took a few more minutes before accepting the request. Klein and Agil, while not Beta Testers, were still sent an invite. He received their confirmation a few moments later.

Time began to pass and soon the church stopped increasing in size as the very last group stumbled through, their appearances gaunt and their looks promising positively murder -they had probably taken a very long while to deal with the troublesome Asylum Demon.

"Very well, all players of Souls Art Online are gathered here!" the Game Master spoke boldly and brought both arms up as columns of fire erupted and washed the church in flames, heating the air up and dispersing the various Fog Doors to reveal the crispy looking landscape beyond them -the Firelink Shrine area, the 'Safe' city of Beginnings. At least, it would be until someone freed the Undead Burg City Area and then the Anor Londo City Area.

"I welcome you, players and weary souls, to Souls Art Online! A game unlike any other, a game meant to make you, yes, you, the Hero that can bring back the Age of Fire! You, bearer of the cursed mark! You will face mighty trials and terrifying enemies, but remember these words: together, you have a chance. Aid one another, fight with one another, and by becoming allies, friends, and trusted party members even the mightiest and most difficult of foes will fall. Beware, though, for the Age of Darkness looms! I am glad to tell you that-"

The Game Master suddenly froze in mid-air. For a split second, his entire body glitched.

It glitched, and then it disappeared into a shower of sparks.

Silence descended in the church as the flames stopped abruptly.

"Hello, players," a soft-spoken voice burst through the confines of the Church. A floating man, one that Kirito recognized as Kayaba Akihiko, looked at them from his spot where before the Game Master had been. "I am Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Nervegear system and of this game, Souls Art Online. I have an announcement to make," he continued, and moved a hand in front of him to reveal a large, purple-colored menu. "I have grown weary with humanity." He pushed a finger, and every single avatar in the room burst in pixels, to reveal the real appearance of the people below them.

There was much screaming. "You hide your true selves behind a facade of politeness. You betray and backstab at the slightest opportunity, and you boast your humanity as if it meant anything, as if 'being human' was your fundamental right, your most cherished point of pride. Well...I have decided it is not. What happens when your life is hanging on the line? What happens when your very soul is the price to pay? I have decided you will be tested, all of you, all fifty thousand players of SAO, and I have decided this because I have the power to do so." Another push of the finger and the voices of everyone came less. They had all been muted.

"I have removed the Log Out function. The game will proceed as planned under Kingseeker, but should any of your family members try to remove the Nervegear...well; the safety device will kick in and fry your brain."

Eyes widened in shock.

"That said, the game's mechanics will stay as they are. If you die, you will respawn at the nearest Bonfire you have touched. However, all Bonfires require humanity to burn...and Humanity...well, Humanity is precious now, my dear players," Kayaba spoke without raising his voice, without smiling, without inflection. It was as if he were nothing but a cold slab of ice. He pushed another button on his display. "Humanity will no longer be dropped randomly. It will be acquired, of course, by killing Bosses and Elite Monsters of a specific type, and it is possible to acquire it in some dungeons, but alas...it is no longer a commodity so easy to share. And it is precious fuel to sustain the Bonfire. Should a Bonfire fail...well, Hollows will soon follow. Should all Bonfires fail...you will all _die_."

Kayaba smiled. "So clear the game! Show me that you are worthy of your humanity! Aid each other; even though...a mean to acquire humanity...is to kill other humans. This is your test of character, players! Clear the game, and earn your freedom! Clear the game, and prove to me that humanity is worth my attention! Prove it...or, well..."

He pushed another button, and as he did, the invisible walls blocking access to the Firelink Shrine came less, to allow players to finally move outside. "In the end...eventually...you will die."

And with that said, Kayaba disappeared.

Screams and yells soon echoed madly all around the Church, even as Kirito hastily beat a retreat from the Church's main area and ducked inside a Confessional Booth. He could hear the screams outside, but since the Confessional Booth was an object standing by itself as a way to 'Confess Sins' and have them absolved, it was an Immortal Object.

He was going to wait there until the vast majority of the players hadn't stopped screaming, and then he'd-

He realized soon enough that the sound of battling had already broken out from beyond the confessional booth. Swallowing noisily, Kirito remained there.

He had but one thought in his head there and then.

Survive.

 _And keep his humanity._


	4. Thus, It Continues

**Chapter Four**

Disbelief was the key emotion on the players' faces that Kirito could see. The panic had turned many players against one another, maybe out of a frenzy of fear and fright, maybe because they hadn't vacated the premises of the Church fast enough. Still, the one thing Kirito realized was that there wasn't actually a crowd. Everyone had dispersed, leaving Firelink Shrine behind. Someone had thankfully lit the Bonfire in the main plaza, and while it crackled and burned, a large bar of a healthy green appeared over it -the time until it turned off, apparently.

Gazing up, Kirito realized that in exchange for a single piece of humanity, the Bonfire was going to burn for an entire week.

That did not bode well.

They had extensively tested and fought in the Beta to reach Anor Londo, and it had taken them all of Summer Vacation. It had also happened with a lot of content 'cut away' to be released at the end of the Beta, so they hadn't even gone through some key areas that were now available for exploration.

A week for a piece of humanity wouldn't have been bad in the Beta -not with the farming of rats or the lucky drop from a chest. But the words of Kayaba did hang in the air. Then again, it didn't have to be that way. Maybe the government or some private Hacker group would barge in and save the day. As it was, it was too early to give in to despair. It wasn't as if you died if you were killed in the game itself -and thank god that wasn't the case. Probably, many of the now Hollow players had simply been stampeded upon by the rushing outside masses of players, who were probably ravaging the countryside of any and all Hollows and random low-level mobs they could find.

As Kirito neared the Crestfallen Warrior -the NPC in the starting area that oversaw the bonfire- he looked at his figure. At least the players had the decency not to kill him in their frothing madness to leave the surroundings.

"Another one," the Warrior said. "Come to share the fate of all of us cursed," he remarked. "But maybe you can help me?"

Kirito lifted an eyebrow. The Quest hadn't yet been done?

"I can try," Kirito replied. "What do you need?"

"My name," the Crestfallen Warrior said. "I can't recall it any longer. It's there, barely out of my grasp. If I had it, maybe I could recover my shining good mood. I feel as if it's been stolen, but who would steal it?"

Kirito looked sideways. There were a few Hollow players -mostly those who had just emerged from the Bonfire and were looking around lifelessly, their expressions probably sour at having died from a mob, and belatedly, Kirito realized they were gesturing at one another in accusation.

The Quest ended once you acquired the man's name and 'brought it back' to him in the form of a Soul Item, 'Fragment of Saulden's Soul' which was found, surprisingly enough -or maybe not surprisingly at all- quite near the starting area.

The hint to it was the 'shining' and the 'stolen'. There was a large raven up on the church's roof, and while Kirito didn't really have any set plans, this was one of the few missions that involved no fighting hordes of Hollows and that held little in the form of competition. Of course, any of the other Beta Players should have probably completed this mission by now, so either Kirito was in luck, or they had all gone ahead to grab some of the best quests around. He was lucky he still had his gear from the Beta.

While not overtly powerful, and not remotely meaningful in the long run, it meant Kirito could take his time. He supposed all the other Beta Testers probably had the same thoughts, which made sense. Returning the 'Name' of the Crestfallen Warrior simply handed you over a few hundred loose souls, 'spare change' so to speak, not even enough for your first attribute power-up unless you began the game like a 'Deprived' character.

Seriously, if there was someone starting the game as a 'Deprived' then whoever he or she was had to have mental problems. It was hard enough playing the game with starting equipment and some goodies depending on the Class chosen, but starting as a Deprived meant using your fists throughout the entire tutorial and having all attributes at one.

Kirito had seen a single character reach the end of the Tutorial as a 'Deprived'. That guy had been among the top tier of Beta-Testers, and he was probably a professional gamer or something. If only he hadn't refused all friendship requests and changed his nickname halfway through, then maybe Kirito would have gladly left him in charge of any and all Raid parties.

As it was, he only knew the guy was called something like 'Sleeping Ran' and even that nickname had been just hearsay.

Well, it wasn't as if it mattered now.

He circled around the ruined church and climbed on the moss-covered stairs, where the elevator to the upper-level church was locked -no one had yet to unlock it, and free the first Blacksmith.

Until that happened, Crafting Items could only be hoarded.

That was kind of a sore point: you had to earn the right of Crafting by being strong enough to battle your way past many dreaded foes and reach for André, the Blacksmith. That meant that you had to suffer many Bosses and enemies without ever powering up your weapon or defensive equipment. It was tough, but it also didn't matter since unless you went for a Player Versus Player character, the difference in equipment was meaningless mostly.

Instead of a one-hit kill you had two hits.

And considering Physics meant that a large hammer would send you flying against a nearby wall, hurting you in the process -not much, the Pain part was thankfully scaled down and there wasn't a 'Wound' or 'Maimed' system- sometimes it was just preferred to die in one swing. At least it was painless.

Being a Hollow wasn't pleasant however, because the game cut off all your sensory inputs tied to touch and taste, making everything taste like ashes and preventing you from having a real 'feeling' of objects. It was disquieting, and while you didn't feel pain or hunger either -that was a great plus- it also was, in the long run, an 'out of body' experience.

Hunger. Yeah. That was going to be fun.

As a 'Chosen Undead', hunger wasn't really there. Only, that was a lie because in the lore, the 'Chosen Undead' ate 'souls' to avoid going mad. This translated directly in a sense of hunger that stuck with you as long as you didn't have any souls in your inventory, and that went away the more souls you had. Once you reached a soft cap of five hundred souls, you no longer felt hunger.

As Kirito looked at the end of the stairway and at the upper level that normally could only be accessed through a 'roll' motion, he decided to risk it. He took more than a few steps back and then rushed for the opposite wall, his feet slipping on the old stone wall as he jumped against it. He jumped again, and extended a hand. His fingers barely caught on to the ledge, and with that said and done, he pulled himself up.

It had been discovered that certain 'physically impossible' feat were actually possible, provided you had the right attribute combination and the right requirement. Plus, depending on the area, the 'requirements' went up or down. This being the starting area, you didn't need more than fifteen strength and dexterity to execute such a move.

In a place like Anor Londo, the very same move would require a whopping fifty-five each.

Kirito looked around the upper area, quiet and solitary safe for a single figure standing over the edge, his body hunched over and probably not having heard the boy's climbing action. He crouched, mostly out of a lack of desire to initiate conversation, and quietly began to walk his way past the guy. The tricky part came next -there was a jump to do on a broken column, and then from there another jump to reach the back of the Church. Once there, it was just a matter of sticking close to the wall and climbing up.

"Skulking, skulking, skulking around," the voice said in a gruff tone. "I sense a rat, skulking around."

Kirito held his breath and crouched a bit more, even though by game's logic it didn't actually matter. Once you were 'enough crouched' you couldn't earn bonuses by 'crouching even further'.

Quickly, Kirito rushed for the broken column and jumped, his feet in the air as the figure turned to look at him and for a single instant, Kirito felt vindicated in not sticking around.

The man had a skull mask. He had a skull mask and a vicious grin.

Kirito rolled at the end of his jump and jumped again, the motion quickly landing him in a 'safe' area. The skull-masked figure just laughed and shook its head, before standing up and lifting a long and thin dagger made of pale blue matter. Kirito's eyes snapped to it for a brief instant, and then back to the figure, who chuckled as he brought out from within his robes a cracked, red orb of sorts.

"The game has changed, oh skulking rat," the voice said with a loud chuckle. "Oh, how much the game has changed."

His name was invisible. It wasn't 'blurred out' or 'hidden'. His name was not there. Even when hidden, asterisks would appear to cover it, but still allow counting the number of letters in it. His health bar was there, and so was a strange, small symbol standing next to it, a crimson orb with a glowing orange eye -the sign of a covenant, no doubt- but that was all.

And then the figure disappeared right in front of Kirito's eyes, stepping backwards in a portal of shimmering crimson flames dribbling with blood.

"Creepy," Kirito mumbled. He knew some people took a kick out of roleplaying their characters, but he hadn't expected something like that. Well, the figure had disappeared, and Kirito's 'Search' wasn't finding him anywhere, so he had probably used a Homeward Bone of sorts. Maybe it had been an item coming from a newly unlocked area?

Anyway, Kirito couldn't waste time on the roleplaying geek. He had an item to recover and a quest to complete. As he climbed upstairs, he came face to face with the giant raven that had its nest on the Church's roof. Differently from the Beta however, the roof of the church now was wider -possibly to allow all fifty thousands of players inside, which meant that yes, it was going to be quite the trek through the rooftop- and yet, desolate.

In the far off distance, the raven stood cawing and flapping its wings.

Kirito carefully made his way to the side of the rooftop, and began to walk alongside its edge. Sure, sure, he could walk right in the middle of the rooftop, but he had played enough of the game to know it was a very, very, very bad idea to do that. If there was an open, wide area, then Kingseeker somehow would put a very big enemy in it, or a horde of mobs, or a Raid Event.

Because Kingseeker was a bastard like that.

Kirito hadn't become one of the 'good' ones at this game because he ignored the obvious. In fact, he kept the quick-slot item on his Homeward Bone just in case he needed a hasty retreat. Better to run away then end up dead, especially if humanity was that precious.

He neared the Raven, who cawed and looked down at him with a twinkle in its eyes.

Firmly tucked in its nest, among the branches, was a small glowing orb that revealed itself as a 'Saulden's Crestfallen Piece of Soul'.

Kirito knelt, and extended a hand to get from near the Raven's claws. The creature wasn't hostile, and as an Immortal Object, it would be kind of a pointless action trying to kill it. The Raven cawed and flapped its wings, moving his large clutches away from the nest. Kirito grasped at the object, which disappeared into his inventory. He sighed, and was about to stand up when he felt the tell-tale sign of the game's Cutscene Engine starting to play.

When the Cutscene happened, the players had to stand still. On the plus side, they became invulnerable for the duration of it, but on the negative side, they could but watch as whatever Boss or unholy demon appeared to execute maximum fear on their souls.

Kirito's eyes widened when the Raven's claws clutched him tightly, and no scream escaped his lips as he ended up carried off in the air, his mind haywire.

He was pretty sure he hadn't knelt inside her nest.

That was required to return to the Asylum, and he hadn't done that. He had most certainly knelt, but while outside of it. This...

This had to be part of the new content.

And he was going at it alone.

This...this did not fill Kirito with hope.

If anything, it made him dread.

He really should have invited the rest of his 'usual party members' to the trip.

He had a long, long time to berate himself and mentally kick his head for being stupid however, since the raven didn't seem to have the intention of dropping him off in the near future.

...

Just _where_ the hell would the thing bring him anyway!?


	5. Kingseeker's Quest

**Chapter Five**

Kirito landed roughly on the ground, but thankfully there was no loss of Hit Points.

The Giant Raven cawed, and then flapped its wings and headed off into the distance. Looking at the creature disappearing over the horizon, Kirito belatedly realized he was still capable of escaping with the Homeward Bone, and clutched on to it, although he did not break it yet.

There were no enemies nearby, and while he didn't doubt for a second a solo exploration would be risky, and potentially lethal, this was a new area.

And since he was the first to explore the new area, he could get some pretty unique and sweet loot from the chests. Of course, that was only if he did find one. Kirito thus knelt immediately down on the ground, letting the Sneak Skill slowly begin to grind up as he trudged carefully forward.

Now, in Souls Art Online, the Attributes were the only 'Upgradeable' thing with souls, but there also were some 'Skills' that could be brought up without the usage of souls. You just had to tediously grind them.

Now, some skills, like 'Blacksmithing', did require an expenditure of souls, because in order to reinforce materials, you needed both the Crafting Reagents and Souls to 'burn'. Since the Blacksmith repaired your weapons, Blacksmithing became truly useful only at higher levels, meaning it was considered less important than the Herbalist Skills, which allowed the gathering of herbs and their crafting into healing poultices, or Mining, which allowed gathering of the very important Titanite fragments.

Kirito's ears perked up at the sound of sniffling. He looked around, half-expecting to find a new type of Hollow, and halted. There was a young, Hollowed Player who appeared to be crouching down on the ground, arms around her legs. She -or He- couldn't be older than twelve. It was difficult to tell with the burnt skin typical of Hollows, although there was the actual question if the girl was an NPC or not.

The only way to find out would be to send her a Trade Request. If she refused it, then she was an NPC. On one hand, that meant a quest was available. Now that Kirito thought about it, the Hollow could be a Quest-Starter.

He'd have to drop out of Sneak Skill however, and if this was a trap -he had to admit it, the Roleplayer had put him on alert, if nothing else because he had just one spare Humanity in his inventory, and he wasn't going to waste it if the quest reward wasn't worth it. In the end, he made a decision.

He'd look bad if he didn't help out.

 _You have gained reputation with the Way of White_

 _You have gained reputation with the Warrior of Sunlight_

 _You have gained reputation with the Princess's Guard_

Kirito realized that revealing himself had made the scared girl look up in fright, and widen her Hollowed out eyes. As he took in the front of her hairstyle, which seemed to have a few bangs and stray locks, it became clear that she was a girl, because the only thing that didn't change whether you were a Hollow or not was the hair.

That was why it took him a moment more than usual to register that he had earned a reputation boost in three Covenants. That...that made little sense. 'Covenants' in Dark Souls were Guilds, only renamed and made up by players. They weren't actually 'Factions' in which to earn merits. Unless that had changed from the Beta, but even if that was the case, did this mean there was now a 'Guild Creation' system?

"It's fine," Kirito said, hands raised. "I don't want to hurt you."

The girl bawled, or at least tried to. Except for some rough gurgling, there was little to her words. Kirito extended a trade offer to the girl, betting his only Humanity on whether she'd accept it or not. To his surprise, she did.

She then looked up at him with a curious look, not understanding.

"Equip the humanity," Kirito said. "And then use your right hand to crush it in your palm. That will 'use' it."

The young girl hesitated just a second, but obeyed in the end. The humanity that Kirito had earned not dying to the Asylum Demon broke in front of his eyes as the girl's skin turned smooth and pink, to reveal a young hazel-haired and light brown eyed girl.

"T-Thank you," the girl, whose nickname was now visible as 'Silica', said.

"Why were you crying?" Kirito asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"I got lost," Silica said in a soft voice, looking up at him. "I was too scared to battle the big demon, so while everyone was fighting it, I went back. When I returned, the doors were open but there was no one else around."

This was the Asylum then, if a completely different and new area, since they stood on a large grassy outcrop with big, rocky stones and ruins of houses ahead of them. Whatever the place was, it wasn't pleasant in the slightest.

"Are you alone?" Kirito asked, scratching his head. In two it would be hard, and judging by the way she was dressed and equipped, she was a Rogue. It meant she could do little if she hadn't the Sneak skill at an acceptable level, and they were lacking a 'Tank' type anyway.

"I-Well, no," Silica said. "There are others-I could hear them when I was...that monstrous thing-"

"Hollow Status," Kirito said, and grimaced. "Human players become Hollow when they die. Hollow can speak with each other and understand Human players, but Humans can't understand what Hollows are saying. Where did you hear them?"

"Over there," Silica said, pointing towards the far end of the village.

"You didn't join them?" Kirito asked, only for Silica to shake her head.

"It's my first time playing," Silica murmured. "My dad told me not to trust people online. He should be here somewhere too! He said he'd help me 'level up', but we got separated at the start of the game and I haven't found him yet-"

"If he had your name, he could have sent you a Friend Request," Kirito pointed out. "We'll look for him once back at Firelink Shrine." Here, however, Kirito found himself looking around in dismay.

In the Beta, to leave the Asylum one had to reach past the doors of the Asylum Demon and then head to the very border and perform a 'leap of faith'. Kirito actually wondered if the same was true even then, but judging by the spot they had appeared, it was highly probable they'd have to go through an entirely new area of the Asylum, unexplored, before returning to the familiar areas that Kirito knew by heart.

Well, there was little to it but find the rest of the Hollow Players lost in there.

The only problem would be that making noise would attract the Hollows, and those, Kirito had no intention of battling in a horde. Sure, he'd probably die, become Hollow, and respawn at the nearest Bonfire, but then he'd be leaving the girl behind and that was a waste of humanity anyway. The better choice was to Sneak.

"You're a Thief, so you should have the Sneak Skill," Kirito said, "On attributes alone, it should be enough to get us past the weakest Hollow-Types. Keep quiet and follow me."

The young girl nodded, and hastily mimicked his pose activating her own Sneak ability. Both crouched, Kirito began to move. Now, if you crouched while someone was looking at you, the 'Sneak' skill didn't activate for them. That was why sneaking was largely useless if the enemy became aware of you. On the other hand, until it did, with a high enough skill you could actually do cartwheels right in front of them.

Kirito and Silica stepped past a mob horde of low level Hollows, who looked around with lost, charred eyes. Silica gasped, and Kirito realized she was clutching the hem of his leather cloak to hold on to him, and her eyes were for the most part closed, as if believing in the universal Hide and Seek law of 'If I don't see them, they can't see me'.

Still, once past a horde that had been moving around a charred house, Kirito saw a crackling bonfire and three Hollows standing by its sides. One held a rusty shield and a hand-axe, and looked ready to murder the world -if by the fact he was swinging his axe around the air, trying to gain a better grasp of the Fighting System.

His nickname was blurred, but again, it didn't take Kirito much to realize he was, once more, gambling on whether these Hollow Players would play nice or not. It was a matter of trust, and -if his thoughts were correct- depending on the circumstance they might not even know of the situation at hand.

Silica stood up after they stepped inside the Bonfire, and while Kirito remained crouched, lost in thought -and thus still invisible to the senses of the other players- the girl revealed herself.

"Hi," Silica said, and soon found herself surrounded by bunny-jumping Hollow Players, who moved up and down fawning over her. Kirito didn't need a 'translator' to understand they were probably going all 'Cute' and 'What is a little girl doing here? Don't worry; your big brother will protect you!'

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't understand you," Silica said.

Kirito now found himself at an impasse. He could, technically, tie himself to the bonfire present there -but that would make his homeward bone useless- on the other hand, he was already there, and the guys looked like they could use some help and some pointers.

Sure, he was without his extra humanity, and dying there would mean having to wait until other players found out about the new area to explore it, but...well, he could always grind souls all the same with the Hollow hordes in the village.

"Oh," Silica said as Kirito watched the young girl look around, flustered and lost. "Mister Kirito? Mister Kirito, where are you?"

Having lost sight of him, and not having a high enough Search skill, it meant she was probably no longer able to see him. Well, judging by how quickly her eyes were watering up, Kirito decided it was better to try all the same.

In for a yen, in for a ten thousand yen bill.

As Kirito stood up, he came into view of both Silica -whose face brightened up like a Christmas tree had been lit- and of the trio of Hollows.

One of the three Hollows looked at him with a surprised expression -as much as a charred up face could be surprised- and then cheerfully waved.

Yeah, it was highly possible they hadn't realized they couldn't log out due to Kayaba, rather than due to the fact the map was the 'Tutorial'.

"My name is Kirito," he said, and used the menu to 'Invite to Party' the rest of them. "And I'm going to bring you to Firelink Shrine," he added.

 _Quest Created. Bring The Wayward Players to Firelink Shrine. 0/5 Players saved. Valor has yet to be saved. Fierdin has yet to be saved. Heleor has yet to be saved. Silica has yet to be saved. Asuna has yet to be saved._

Kirito balked. He looked at the message that had appeared in the upper right corner of his vision, and then around a bit more. He knew, of course, that Kingseeker could create quests out of thin air, but he hadn't expected to stumble upon one that required other players as 'subjects' of it. That made basically little sense: you couldn't expect a quest involving a player to succeed, because the player in question might be...leaving...logging out...refuse to...

Oh.

Oh.

The game had changed.

It had changed badly.

It had changed to involve the players.

Another thing caught Kirito's attention, and that made him frown. The quest said 'Five' players. He doubted he was counted among them, so...there was still someone, nicknamed 'Asuna', lost somewhere. This meant he'd have to move the Group up to a Raid.

This meant there would be a final Raid Boss before the Quest could be completed.

This meant an Eighty-player Raid Boss awaited Kirito before the end of it, and suddenly, all manner of curses against Kingseeker came to be from Kirito's mouth, and Silica's eyes widened, even as she pressed her hands against her ears to keep the naughty, never heard before words out of her twelve years old head.


	6. Facing Enemies

**Chapter Six**

Kirito calmed down after one of the Hollow players tapped his shoulder, bringing him back to the present, and the dreadful situation he was in. He took a deep breath, even though there was no actual change in the amount of oxygen inside his bloodstream -this was all in his head, technically, and every single impulse of his brain was patterned by the Nervegear, and modified in order to show him this world, and make the actions he thought of the same as those of his character.

It was the ultimate Virtual Reality tool, since it could recreate everything that was real. The brain was, after all, the organ in the human body tied to all the senses and who recorded all information.

Kirito winced as a stab of hot pain shot through his head. There was something tied to 'record all information' that felt eerily familiar, and yet it hurt to try to remember what it connected to.

Still, he had other troubles. Namely put, make sure the group understood how it worked. "So, about your names..." Kirito hazarded. "Who's Valor?"

One of the Hollows -with a mace and a shield- brought up a hand and waved it a bit around. He had to be a Cleric.

"Who's Fierdin?"

The sword and shield knight waved next, and since the last Hollow didn't look like a girl -much less like an 'Asuna'- Kirito deemed him 'Heleor'.

"You're a sorcerer, right?" Kirito asked the cloth wearing guy, who nodded and produced a half broken staff from his inventory.

"Well, we're just missing a certain 'Asuna', has anyone seen her?" the various head-shakes produced made Kirito sigh. Well, he had a group of five, and they'd be good for the clearing of mobs.

Plus, they had a bonfire going, which apparently would remain lit for...two days?!

What was wrong with-Oh damn, no. No.

The Bonfires in the main cities were visually larger than those found among 'check-points', but Kirito couldn't believe Kingseeker would be such a bastard. Basically, it seemed clear that 'Check-point' bonfires would require more humanity than City-Bonfires, which in turn meant that it punished those people who went grinding and 'checked' their progress away from the city's fire.

On the other hand, it also meant that in case of death one had to go a considerably longer distance to recover his own blood mark if he didn't place a check-point, and if he died again...he lost his humanity.

"Now, here is how it works. We'll clean a few hordes so you can get the hang of it, meanwhile if you hear this 'Asuna' in the chat tell me by doing a Gesture like the 'Bow' or the 'Penitence' all right? If she's a Hollow, I can't hear her," Kirito said, receiving nods and thumb-ups in reply.

"Uhm...what...what about logging off?" Silica asked. "I can't find the button for it."

The other Hollow players gave puzzled looks, and then looked at their menus.

"You're in the tutorial area," Kirito said quickly, "You can't log off until you're done with the tutorial due to the event tied to it. I've been sent here to guide you to the exit by the program, Kingseeker."

It wasn't really that big of a lie. It was just a half-truth. The last thing Kirito needed was a group of traumatized players who would never be able to log off. Further, the world outside wasn't going to just sit by and watch Kayaba act like a silly psychopath. Someone was going to free them, of that Kirito was sure.

It was as he directed the Hollowed players and Silica towards a horde of Hollows that he understood a key concept of the changes from the Beta to the 'Official' version. By making the Hollow incapable of communicating with the humans, it separated the two classes. Already, the trio of Hollowed players was talking among themselves, but Kirito had no idea what they were talking about. This didn't breed the desire to cooperate between Human-Players and Hollow-Players, but instead further separated them.

He could only direct them, and at the moment, they were fine with it. What if suddenly they weren't any longer? This...this was a subtle attempt at breeding contempt for the humanity-players.

It didn't take a genius to understand that the way the game had 'tilted', it made more sense for everyone to be Hollow and hoard humanity rather than keep being human. However, being human had way more perks than one could understand at first glance.

For example, a human had better prices in shops, could buy same-level gear that however held better stats from the blacksmith, and many miracles and spells worked better if the caster was human. Plus, NPCs of certain types only talked with humans, and were downright hostiles to Hollows.

Kirito just hoped the Hollowed Players would be good sports in taking orders from him. "Heleor, use your Soul Arrow magic to aggro a horde, then switch to the sword and shield. Meanwhile, Valor, you're a Cleric. You have the Heal spell. It's Target-Self, so you can't use it to heal us. Put the shield in your left hand and the talisman in your right when you want to heal, otherwise keep using your mace. Silica, you're a thief. Your main source of attack comes from backstabbing the enemy with your dagger. Valor, you have to put yourself in harm's way with your shield raised, and heal when your Hit Points get low. Fierdin, you need to be ready to substitute Valor as a tank while he heals. I'll keep an eye on your backs so we don't get flanked or attacked from behind. Do you all understand the plan?"

There were a few nods, although Heleor seemed to be puzzled by something. He did raise a hand and gesture at his catalyst, then switched to a shield and mimicked launching a magic spell.

"No," Kirito said, understanding his words. "Spells in Dark Souls are limited in casting time. You need to buy parchments to acquire more spells of the same variety, or different in form and type. You have thirty uses at the start. You can power up the parchment once the Sorcerer-NPC is unlocked, but until then you're stuck with thirty uses. And trust me...the Hollow Hordes are a lot. And if we rest at the bonfire and are the only ones in the area, they respawn."

They also did respawn without resting at the bonfire, but the time was shortened with each person resting to recover health and magic uses.

Heleor nodded, and made a fist-pump gesture.

Silica looked kind-of green, but clutched her daggers and looked up at the trio of Hollows.

"L-Let's do this and then log off for the day, okay?" she said with a small, cute smile. Kirito was sure she'd be heartbroken when the truth came out. Still, her words fired up the rest of the Hollows, who all cheered with a hand to the sky before turning to the closest horde.

Kirito equipped his swords and nodded.

"Let's do this," he whispered.

The Soul Arrow departed from Heleor's catalyst like a spinning projectile, and struck one member of the Horde straight in the chest, sending the Hollow to spin in mid-air and turn to glittering sparkles the next.

The rest of the Horde turned like a single creature and shrieked loudly before stomping their feet on the ground and rushing forward, rusted swords in hand and limbs flailing freely.

"Hold steady, Valor!" Kirito exclaimed as Valor met the first of the rushing Hollows with his shield, the impact fracturing the enemy's skull and sending it back.

Fierdin spun, long sword in hand, and struck a blow through the guts of a Hollow aiming for Heleor, while the sorcerer gripped his sword with both hands and sliced the head of the wounded Hollow. His shield equipped next, he managed to block a blow to his sides.

Kirito crouched and rushed forward, twin swords spinning in mid-air as he crushed through the flanking Hollows with quick, sharp thrusts and long, overarching movements to take out as many as possible.

Silica screamed as she stabbed repeatedly a Hollow in the sides, which was aiming at Valor's unguarded flank -since Kirito had moved to protect the back.

Fierdin moved away from Heleor, replacing with unnatural grace -the Switch mechanic- Valor in the frontlines, as the Cleric cast a Heal spell to recover the lost health.

Fierdin's shield parried a blow, and the next moment his longsword stuck out of the Hollow's back, before pulling the sword out as the Hollow turned to dust. Kirito parried a blow, and counter-attacked swiftly the next moment.

"Don't pick up objects yet!" Kirito snapped as he saw a Hollow drop something. "If you pick it up, the animation won't protect you from damage!"

Heleor jumped back, avoiding a broad swing, and as Valor took his spot, mace in hand, the skull of the Hollow caved in with a gratuitous shower of gore spraying out.

Silica's eyes weren't just wide at the scene; she outright looked at her blood-soaked weapons and hands and began to whimper.

"It's just a game!" Kirito yelled. "Don't be afraid and help Fierdin out!"

Silica's reply came as a mixture of a shriek, a scream, and a whimpered 'why me'. Kirito somehow felt a trio of glares on his back, but he shrugged them off as the last of the Hollow died to his swords, beheaded by a blow from both.

As Fierdin and Valor mopped up their remaining Hollow, and Heleor and Silica caught their breath, Kirito watched the long path that headed to a large, black door that seemed to lead within the Asylum proper.

"Well," he said as the last of the Hollow fell. "Now we need to repeat this a few times while we head to that door," he pointed at the door in the distance. "Can you do it?"

"M-Mister Kirito," Silica whispered. "I-I want to log off."

"You can't," Kirito replied, "Not from the tutorial."

"But-Can't we do anything?" Silica croaked out.

Valor waved his hands and then moved his hands to form a crude 'G' and a crude 'M'.

"The Game Masters are busy with the personal events around Firelink Shrine," Kirito said. "It will be hours before one of them answers. Better to make our way there. It's just a game after all, what's there to be afraid of?"

"I don't like it," Silica murmured. "A game should be fun to play, not scary."

Kirito grimaced and then shrugged. "We have to keep going. We cleared a Horde already. Just keep at it and everything will be fine. Don't aggro more than one and we should be fine. Come on, it's a straight line to the door."

Fierdin shot Kirito a 'look' and then bent down in front of Silica, patting her head with his gloved hand. He tapped his metallic chest, letting it clink and leaving the unspoken agreement of 'I'll protect you' hung in the air. Valor nodded next, and Heleor raised his catalyst as if to say 'All for one, and one for all'.

Silica made a small smile at the gesture. "T-Thank you, misters."

Kirito rolled his eyes, but then brought up his menu. "Open your menu," he said to the girl, "There's an option in the Personal Choices to turn off the Gore-" and then he blinked. The option was gone.

"What the-" he mumbled. He hadn't really checked his menu completely, but apparently, the Pain Meter could now be manually accessed and... It only moved forward?

What the hell?!

A small asterisk nearby explained the choice. Apparently, the Game felt the need to reward 'hard-core' players who wished to suffer more bodily harm than strictly necessary by increasing slightly the percentage of loot received from Bosses and Mobs if one increased the pain threshold back to 'normal levels' and further increased it if someone went 'higher than normal'.

The game basically rewarded masochism.

Further, there was yet another option to suffer more damage from attacks in exchange for increased loot, to the point of a 'One-Hit kill' from everything.

Kirito left the slides alone, and closed his menu. "That button is gone. It seems they left the gore as a fixed feature."

Silica closed her menu too, and looked downcast.

Fierdin took a step forward on the road and lifted his sword, pointing forward at the door and looking back at Kirito to make sure he had understood. Kirito nodded, and gripped his swords. Silica ended up walking in the middle of the group, with Heleor and Valor protecting the sides. Many burned houses stood to the sides of the roads, their doors closed, yet some creaked loudly, the hinges rusted and near breaking point.

Kirito hadn't even asked what loot the Hollow Horde had dropped -he'd leave it to the new players. He had earned his share of souls, and now his stomach no longer felt hunger, so on that front he was satisfied.

Fierdin stopped suddenly, his body tensing up. He turned to look at Kirito and then pointed in the direction of a burnt house.

"You heard something?" Kirito asked, and Fierdin nodded. Valor took a step forward, and then nodded too. Kirito looked at the house, and then at what was behind it -one of the Asylum's towers.

"It can't be the house," Kirito said. "It's too close. 'Asuna' must be in the tower up the Asylum Ramparts," he said, pointing further beyond the house. The trio of Hollows 'clapped' as if to approve his words.

That proved to be the wrong thing. Clapping with metallic gauntlets pinged the noise sensors of a nearby Horde, which shot out of the house in front of them like a rampaging hurricane of teeth, claws and rusted swords with loud rumbling of boots on dirt.

Silica screamed, and her scream caught the aggro-radius of another Horde, coming from a house behind them.

Kirito did not waste time.

"Run to the door!" he yelled, rushing ahead after grabbing Silica by the wrist to move her along.

The trio of Hollowed Players started to follow them, but a Hollow jumped forward and grabbed Fierdin by the legs, throwing him down on the ground with a strong impact. Valor kicked the face of the Hollow and smashed the skull, freeing Fierdin who hastily got back up as Heleor turned and expended two Soul Arrows to brutalize the two closest Hollows.

"Move, move, move!" Kirito yelled, gesturing at them near the door, which opened with a swift 'click'.

Valor turned and gave his back to a Hollow which Heleor didn't hit, too busy running towards Kirito. The back-stab attack took Valor by surprise, who ended up with a rusty sword through his chest, and ended with a spray of Hollow blood and his corpse falling on the ground in a dirty, dark-red blotch of blood.

Fierdin took one look at the scene and swung his sword blindly, aided by Heleor turning just in time to safeguard his flank with abundant usage of Soul Arrows. As the Horde thinned, Fierdin began to gasp -his stamina depleted- and his movements became sluggish. A Hollow bit down hard on his neck, and as blood sprayed out -in a clearly not realistic way- the knight turned into dust, leaving his own pool of black blood on the ground.

The Horde then turned on Kirito, Silica and Heleor as the Sorcerer fired his last spells.

Taking a deep breath, Kirito slammed his sword through the guts of a nearing Hollow with his back against the wall, while Silica bent down and avoided an overhead swing.

Heleor moved to his sword and shield, and by sheer luck parried an incoming blow from a Hollow attack, striking with the counter-attack. Meanwhile, from the end of the road Fierdin and Valor were nearing once more, this time running.

"Don't run! Don't run! DON'T RUN!" Kirito yelled loudly, but too late. All the doors near the road sprung open, as a larger horde of Hollow poured out, numbering in the hundreds.

The running animation of Fierdin and Valor made the scene look comical -and at the same time, there was nothing to laugh at.

The duo didn't turn, and didn't even stop to recover their lost souls. They simply barged inside through the door by jumping, and Kirito hastily closed the door behind him and looked around. "We need to lock it! Silica, the Master Key, quick!"

Silica screamed, more out of tension than fear, and hastily threw the Master Key at Kirito who grabbed it, locked the door behind him, and then shattered the key into the key lock -permanently blocking the door until another Master Key was sacrificed to open it, or someone with enough strength broke it down.

From beyond the door, the impact of the horde of Hollows against the wooden came like a crashing of thunder, but even as dust and a few splinters sailed in the air, the door held.

Everyone held their breaths, and then exhaled as one man.

Kirito turned, and looked at the long hallway ahead of them, with a door to the left and a stairway in a spiral-pattern climbing up to the upper floor.

"All right," Kirito whispered. "We need to find a Bonfire, fast," 'and a piece of Humanity to light it' remained unspoken.

Yeah, the second part was going to be so much fun.

Still, the trio of Hollows fist-bumped each other, and then extended their fists to Kirito and Silica, the universal gesture of 'Weren't we great, bro?'

Kirito took another small breath and made a small smile as he returned the fist-bump. It hadn't been, all things considered, that bad of a thing.

They still had the Asylum to explore and an Eighty-person raid boss to defeat, but they had at least cleared a 'checkpoint' so to speak.

Now they just had to 'not die' until they reached the exit.

Or he could always abandon the quest, and leave them to their fates. Nobody forced him to do this, after all.


	7. Asylum Dungeoneering 101

**Chapter Seven**

The Asylum's door creaked and rumbled under the strain of the incessant assault of Hollows, but it held, and thus Kirito caught his breath and watched his stamina regenerate.

"All right," he said. "We have to head up to the ramparts," he looked at the spiraling staircase, and at a crack at the bottom of the stairs. Kingseeker was a bastard, not just for the mobs, but also for the traps that riddled many of the dungeons he created for the adventurers.

At the same time, he always left a sign -sometimes really, really small and hidden- to show that at least, 'the trap would have been visible to a keen observer'. Someone with a high Search skill could see a faint glow, but everyone could see the tell-tale signs of the traps' mechanisms. They just had to know where to look.

The door to the left, for example, was devoid of traps. It also was closed, and since Kirito had just sacrificed the Master Key to keep the horde of mobs at bay, they could break it down with strength -probably Fierdin and Valor together had enough to satisfy the requirement- or head up the stairs.

If they broke the door however, they would be making enough noise to potentially aggro all the monsters within earshot.

"Now listen up," Kirito said. "The stairway has a trap. Judging by the cracks near the wall, it's a falling boulder. The door is locked, and we'd have to force our way through it. If we do that however, we're going to be aggroing pretty much all monsters on the floor."

Fierdin looked at the stairway, and hoisted his shield as if to say 'I can tank it'.

"Traps don't work that way in Souls Art Online," Kirito pointed out. "They are lethal to all but the most bulked up characters. They need to be properly avoided or disarmed. Kingseeker allows unparalleled free-thinking to solve his traps, so you can easily grab a large weight and throw it over the stairs to mimic walking on them, thus triggering the trap. However, we don't have a large weight." Kirito shook his head. "And if any of us die before the next bonfire, we will be forced to restart from the bonfire outside. We'd have to scale the walls next or walk around, making the trip even longer."

"W-What about deactivating the trap?" Silica asked. "I'm...I'm a Thief, shouldn't I be able to?"

Kirito gave her a half-hearted and dejected look. "Yes, but in order to do so, you must go past the trap itself and have a high enough Search skill to find the priming mechanism. If you do, you can see the glowing steps on the stairway that activate the trap. Avoid those, reach the upper floor and find where the boulder is. If you touch it and your Disable Trap skill is high enough, you could prevent it from springing. But disabling a trap requires a minimum of one to a maximum of five thieves depending on its complexity, and this map is a Raid..." Kirito grimaced.

"I can still try?" Silica hazarded, but Kirito wasn't really sure in letting the young girl go by itself. The trio of Hollows instead nodded, thumbs raised up. "Thanks guys," Silica added, and carefully began to walk forward, up the stairs.

A few steps later, and there was a resounding click, followed by a startled scream as Silica jumped off the stairway, holding on to the rails, as a large iron boulder went tumbling down to crash against the nearby wall, shattering it and opening up a path through a room.

As Silica dangled from the stairway, Heleor rushed up to grab the young girl by the wrist and pull her back to safety. Meanwhile, Fierdin had neared the hole in the wall, and Kirito soon joined him, crouching and with his eyes narrow as he looked at the open courtyard where small patrols of Hollow walked without purpose.

The courtyard was an inner garden of sorts, with many bushes dried up. Kirito's eyes snapped to a corner where, behind a few patrolling Hollows, a chest laid in plain view glowing to his eyes. Fierdin hadn't seen it, probably because he hadn't used his Search skill, or he hadn't honed it as well as Kirito had.

"Let's clean the courtyard," Kirito said, receiving a nod from Fierdin as Valor merely hoisted his shield and mace, ready to rumble. Grabbing a loose chunk of rock from the nearby brick wall, Kirito showed it to the rest of the players, before throwing it in a straight line against the head of a nearby Hollow.

The Hollow' head snapped at an unnatural angle towards them, his neck cracking and with a howl of hatred, eyes suddenly glowing red, it roared.

Kirito's eyes widened as the new type of Hollow turned the other Hollows' attention towards them. Expending a dagger, Kirito threw it straight against the 'Screamer'-Type Hollow, breaking his skull and sending the mob to fall backwards in a shower of pixels. "New Hollow type," Kirito said. "Haven't met it yet."

Fierdin pushed Kirito back and slammed his shield forward, shattering the face of a frothing Hollow into pulp as his sword shone briefly, the start of a counter-attack that ended with the blade deeply embedded into the stomach of the first among many charging Hollow.

Valor's mace fell down with strength, outright shattering a skull, before a hasty shield block made him stumble back, sparks sailing where the rusty sword hit his shield.

Heleor thrust his sword forward between the cracks in Fierdin and Valor's shield wall, but Silica's scream made him turn and balk. Kirito's eyes snapped to the stairway, where Hollow were starting to shamble down.

"Kingseeker," Kirito hissed. "I hate you so much."

Spinning his blades, Kirito's attack passed inches above Silica's head, as the girl had brought both hands to cover her head and had knelt down at the sight of the Hollows. Thankfully, the Hollows fell to Kirito's flurry of attacks swiftly, the impossibility of flanking making the stairs the ideal spot to halt their advance.

Keeping an eye on his stamina gauge, Kirito snarled and thrust forward, sword attack after sword attack. The blades dug in burned chests and creaky bones, as dark blood spewed out of the wounds drenching the blades and splattering on the stairways in rivulets.

As a soft beep warned Kirito of his lowering stamina, he gasped at a Hollow a few steps above, jumping down on him, rusty sword in hand.

A warning in orange, and a hand pulled him back as Heleor slammed a Soul Arrow straight against the Hollow's chest, pulverizing him. Kirito gasped for air as Heleor hoisted his staff in his right hand and gave him a thumb-up gesture.

"Thanks," Kirito gasped, the stamina returning steadily. Heleor shrugged, as if to say 'any day, bro'.

A Hollow jumped down after the first one, but this time Kirito had enough stamina to switch with Heleor and parry the incoming attack, before countering with a devastating kill-move.

Heleor turned towards the bottom of the stairs and rushed down suddenly, making Kirito frown, but then spin to block the incoming attack of yet one more Hollow.

"Do you never end?!" Kirito hissed between clenched teeth. As if to spite him, two more Hollows came down past the first one. "I was joking!"

Apparently, Kingseeker was not.

As the last of the Hollows fell, Kirito took deep shuddering breathes and wobbled back down to where the rest of the party was supposed to be. Only, they weren't. They were in the courtyard, eyeing the chest with a puzzled expression.

Kirito edged inside the courtyard carefully, two other open arches probably guiding deeper into the Asylum complex. "Why haven't you opened the chest yet?" he asked, only for the trio of Hollows to point at Silica, who was shaking her head in turn.

"I can't! I did nothing to warrant it," Silica said. "Really. You were all better than me. I can't take it."

"Why? What was inside?" Kirito asked.

"Oh-I haven't opened it yet," Silica said. "I can't possibly accept what's inside-"

"Well, how about just opening it for the time being? Objects can be traded," Kirito pointed out. "Look," he opened his Party-Menu and turned the 'Loot obtained' to 'Crystal-Clear View' setting. He neared the chest and carefully pried it open, as the objects passed through his scrutiny one after the other. "Here's the chest's contents. If you look in the lower left side of the screen, you'll see what was in the chest. If you notice, the 'Crystal-Clear' option means that everything I grab, be it a 'World Item'," to enforce the point he grabbed a dried leaf, earning the ping 'Kirito has obtained a Dried Leaf' to appear in the Events menu, "Or an item appears in the Events."

The trio nodded, and then gestured at the objects acquired that Kirito had meanwhile brought to the forefront of his menu.

Kirito brought out the shining orb of souls. "This is worth five hundred souls. There are five of us. I can break this up now, but if any of us dies then the loose souls are lost, on the other hand we can keep this aside and open it back in Firelink Shrine, so even if we die, we don't lose the souls."

Nods happened, and Kirito moved on to the next object. "This is a White Chalk. If you write down the nickname of a player you have on your friend's list, you can summon him to your side to help in an ensuing battle."

The next item was half a dozen of green blossoms, which were quickly split among the party of Stamina-dependent users. A couple of Firebombs, a few throwing daggers, but all things said, nothing more.

Kirito sighed as he watched the meager contents of the chest. Sure, for a five-men party the contents were something pretty even, but considering this was meant to be an Eighty-people Raid zone, with multiple combats happening around the Asylum at the same place...no, Kirito couldn't accept such meager loot as something 'standard'. It had to be a joke.

Kirito kept his inner turmoil for himself as they went back and up the spiraling stairway. They'd have time to clear the rest of the Dungeon at a later date. As it was, all that he wanted was to bring everyone out of there, no matter the 'shortcuts' he'd have to employ. Hell, if all else failed, he'd just scale the ramparts down. It would be a bitch on the equipment's durability, but Kingseeker actually allowed that line of thought.

He punished it at a later date, with the next group trying to 'cheese' its way through, but he allowed it for the first one, as if to reward their creativity.

The spiraling staircase ended up bringing the group up to the upper floor, which resembled a hospital corridor with many doors locked, and Hollow hands moving slowly through the small bars nestled at head level. This looked like the level design of a horror game.

"Stay in the center and keep quiet," Kirito whispered. Ahead of them, he could see a normal pair of stairs going up, maybe towards the ramparts for a change.

Fierdin took point, sword and shield equipped, with Valor close behind. Silica was in the middle as always, and as Kirito closed the line, Heleor was in front of the boy. Hands shot out from the bars, and Fierdin didn't even bat an eyelid. It was as if he had expected something like that.

Silica was the one who jumped, but Heleor's hands closed quickly around her mouth to prevent her from screaming and then 'hush' her with a hand gesture. Silica's eyes watered, but she nodded and kept her gaze down from that moment onward. More hands shot out from the tiny cracks in the bars, and as a few Hollow began to pound against the doors, Fierdin increased his gait.

The door was already within arm's reach, when the first of the doors slammed open behind them, soon followed with echoing triumph by all the others in rhythmic succession.

"Up," Kirito said as he turned, his swords already unsheathed. The Hollows charged once more, and as the party quickly scampered into the stairwell, Heleor closed the door behind them. Kirito gave one quick look at what was on the floor below, and groaned.

"Upstairs!" Kirito barked. "Now!"

The Balders knight group, which actually made the dungeon worthy of being called an Eighty-people raid, locked eyes up with Kirito's party and brought their rapiers up. As everyone rushed up the stairs as one, the stamina gauge depleted faster for Fierdin and Valor, who once more remained stuck behind. This time however, Kirito had no intention of leaving them to their fates -mostly because he'd have to backtrack to get them once more.

"Open fire with everything you have!" Kirito snapped, hurling a Firebomb from his hand to the floor below, striking a Balder knight in the chest and igniting his skin and mantle, as those close by took minor damage from the attack.

Heleor threw his Firebombs like a madman possessed, and as Fierdin and Valor stopped running to recover their breath, Silica whimpered in front of a wooden door, which was apparently locked.

"Break it down!" Kirito barked as an order. Valor nodded, squared his jaw, and with the pose of a rugby player, whose sole purpose was of snapping in half a rival rugby player, he charged for the door with a bellowing -yet silent for Kirito- roar.

The door cracked and splintered under the strain of a heavily armored Cleric, but as Valor 'bounced off' it was Fierdin who delivered one devastating shoulder-tackle and cracked the door open.

"We have to run!" Kirito ordered to Heleor, who nodded and set off in a rush.

Kirito was hot on the Sorcerer's heels anyway, and as he stopped just long enough to 'pull' Silica along, they ended up on the ramparts outside the Asylum, the Balders' knights still rushing their way upstairs.

"Damn it!" Kirito swore, a horde of Undead Warriors barring their path to the upper tower. They stood on the ramparts, between a rock and a hard place, and there was no other way through. Well, except for a long fall against the hard ground of the Asylum.

The first of the Balder Knights emerged from the doorway, his mantle lightly charred, glowing eyes showcasing how 'pissed off' he could be. He was the first of many, and as he rushed ahead, sword poised to strike and steps clanking against the ground, his brothers soon followed.

"Sorry," Kirito said. "We shouldn't have taken the stairs."

Fierdin patted Kirito's shoulder, as if to say 'it happens, bro' and then shrugged lightly, making 'crack' sounds with his neck as he rolled it around his shoulders a bit. He made small jumps, and hoisted his shield up to cover most of his body, crouching and getting ready for the total party wipe of the century.

Valor spun his mace in hand and made a 'laugh' animation.

Heleor spun his staff, and opened fire as if there was no tomorrow. The Soul Arrows departed in the air, and as he closed his fist they struck across the upcoming Balder Knights, taking large chunks of health away from a few of them and killing a couple. He then swapped the staff with his sword, and cheered.

"I-I should do my part too!" Silica exclaimed, daggers in hand as the full-brunt of the Balder knights struck against the shield-wall. Fierdin's armored steps dug on the ground, sparks flying as the Hollowed Knight held his ground, while Valor instead pushed back, his mouth morphed in a permanent 'O' form, probably a roar -or a string of curses.

Kirito jumped to the side, striking and cutting wildly as a Balder knight intercepted one of his blows and came for a counter with his rapier, only for an arrow to strike him in the neck.

A second arrow soon joined the first, and as Kirito took a quick breath, he parried an attack aimed at him, and returned it in kind against a new enemy.

Silica screamed as she pulled both daggers down on the back of a Balder Knight, repeating the motion each time it squirmed. Heleor jumped back, barely avoiding a stab to the heart from a rapier, wielded by a Balder Knight who was probably seeking revenge for his fallen comrades. Valor came crushing down on it with a mace attack, but as he left his back exposed, a Balder Knight took that as the cue to initiate a Backstab.

Another arrow saved Valor's life, hitting the Balder's knight in the head, while one more struck at the creature's heart.

As the horde didn't abate in its intensity however, Kirito began to see the lack of stamina quickly taking the advent -Green Blossoms or not, it couldn't keep helping them when the enemy simply didn't seem to have an end in sight.

Kirito jumped back, avoiding a stab and ending dangerously close to the edge of the ramparts. His feet ended up slipping, and as he tumbled with his back down between the ramparts' edge, he avoided a metallic skewer -the Balder's rapier- from punching a hole in his skull.

Kirito growled with effort as he gripped the Balder's armor and then pushed it past him, past the ramparts, and to go crashing down against the cold hard ground. Gasping for air, the boy stood back up with both of his swords raised. It was a futile fight against destiny, and even if there was an unseen helper with the aim of a sniper, it still didn't change the fact they were screwed.

He could leave.

Leaving would mean safeguarding his humanity.

It would mean the defeat of the group, but he would survive, and he could come back with a larger group to save them at a later date.

As Silica screamed from pain, a Balder successful in hitting her in a shoulder with his rapier, making the young twelve years old fall on the ground clutching her wound, Kirito rushed forward with a roar.

A Balder knight pierced his right leg, while Valor's chest turned into a pincushion for half a dozen of rapier blades. The man still held himself up, the Heal spell cast just at the right time to take the brunt of the attack, and keeping the Heal up. How many uses did the man still have with the Catalyst firmly clutched in his right hand?

It didn't matter. True to his name, Valor punched the living shit out of the Hollow in front of him, shattering the helm and the teeth as the bathing light of the miracle closed his wounds.

Fierdin had forsworn his shield in favor of hacking off at Valor's attackers with both hands on his sword, stabbing and slicing and backstabbing where he could.

Valor collapsed in the end, turning into pixels as a dozen of rapiers pierced him from side to side.

Fierdin soon followed, wildly swinging at the upcoming horde, taking two out as he fell struck by a devastating counter and a backstab, both executed flawlessly at the same time.

Kirito took a deep breath and stood in front of Silica's crouched form.

"Hey," Kirito said. "Can you run?"

Heleor was quickly swarmed and killed, his last act the grasping of a Balder Knight and the falling together with it in the courtyard inside.

The Balder knights were now but a dozen from the original twenty-something, but as Kirito and Silica were all that remained -plus the unseen sniper- they began to circle them, calmly holding their rapier up.

"It will be quick," Kirito acquiesced. "It probably won't hurt much."

"I want to log out," Silica whimpered. "I want to log out...Mister Kirito, please...I want to log out."

Kirito took a deep breath, and swallowed his saliva. It was just a simulation, part of the Nervegear's ability to interact with the brain, but the drumming of his heartbeat and the swallowing his spit made it all the more realistic, and nerve-wracking.

A few more arrows pelted the Balder Knights, but did little. There were still too many.

"I'll open you a path," Kirito acquiesced. "When I do, run for the tower," he added.

"B-But-"

"Do as I say, Silica," Kirito hissed, quietly palming two throwing daggers, one per hand. "Ready?"

Silica mumbled a throat noise, and Kirito spun quick as lightning. The two daggers struck the head of the Balders Knights, and as Kirito pushed with his shoulder against those two, Silica darted in the opening and rushed ahead.

As wounds after wounds depleted Kirito's life, he still rushed ahead towards the pack of Undead Warriors, to aggro them in Silica's place and allow her to proceed further, towards the door of the tower that was now opening to reveal another female Hollow -Asuna, probably- who was clutching a bow and opening fire with it. The Balder Knight that had been aiming to backstab Kirito fell down as one of his legs gave way.

A second arrow and a third devastated the Undead Warriors, and as Silica managed to roll past their Horde, Kirito swallowed, his work there done.

But maybe, just maybe, he could save himself too.

So Kirito jumped.

He jumped, and dug both swords on an Undead Warrior each, pulling them behind him to halt the advance of the Balder Knights.

Then, Kirito rolled forward, and as he rolled once more past the Horde and into the base of the tower, he gazed at the door being closed and a large wardrobe dropped in front of it, soon followed by loose bricks and large barrels.

The Hollow Player then turned towards Kirito, and opened her mouth to speak. Only, of course, she was a Hollow and thus couldn't speak.

Kirito didn't say anything at first.

He just laughed.

He laughed, and looked at his health bar, and he laughed a bit more.

 _Only a tiny sliver of health remained_.


End file.
